The Blood in Their Breath (JohnKat)
by beenaryStars
Summary: Karkat Vantas is a sufferer of cancer. Everyone Karkat knows seems to either be a survivor of cancer, or in some sort of romantic relationship. Yes, even his trigger-happy older brother, Kankri, has a 'gf'. But when him and a boy named John Egbert are thrown together, despite opinions, and despite everything. But what could come from a love with one party having terminal cancer?
1. Pairing Warning!

This story includes the following pairings:

~JohnKat

~GamTav

~AraSol

~Daverezi

~Faint traces of RoseMary

~DirkJake

~Aurekri (Kankri x Oc [Aureli Ejronn])

~And probably more that I can't think of right now

Thanks for reading~ If you don't like JohnKat, I suggest you don't read, because that's the main pairing in this fanfiction!

All cancers mentioned in this story are actually real. I'm not smart enough to make up complicated words that aren't even in my computer's dictionary for some reason. But, my computer is ridiculous, so this doesn't come as a surprise.

Anyways, enjoy reading!

~beenaryStars


	2. Chapter 1: A Few Introductions

My name is Karkat Vantas. I am sixteen years old. I am in perfect health, and my brother, Kankri, and I get along perfectly, and I get on just fine with my sisters, Meulin and Nepeta, too. I go to the school nearby, and my grades are decent. Alright... There are a few lies there. I don't go to school. Okay, maybe there are only two things I've said so far that were true:

My name is Karkat Vantas.

I am sixteen years old.

Let me correct myself:

My brother, Kankri, and get along like shit. My relationships with my sisters could be better if I saw Nepeta on a regular basis (she's always online in her bedroom, and I mainly only see her at dinner), and if Meulin wasn't deaf. I've been too busy Having Cancer to learn sign language.

My dad thinks I'm depressed, so he takes me to this support group that he runs. And I might be, but that's a side effect of dying. Depression, I mean. Everything I do seems to be a side effect of dying.

So, here I am, at the Support Group, with a bunch of other dying teenagers. My dad used to be a priest, but then my mom came, and that wasn't the case anymore. And I get it; it's been hard on him, as a father. But the only reason I was born was because they thought that Kankri wasn't going to make it. He had about a .3 chance of survival. But the guy will never cease to amaze you, and with treatment, all the cancer was drained from his body. Not mine, though. I have a terminal cancer in my lungs. If you want the medical term, it's 'pulmonary carcinoma'. I have to carry an oxygen tank wherever I go, now, and have these little plastic tubes called cannula in my nose all the time. Damn, it's annoying! You know what else is annoying? My star sign is actually Cancer. What the fuck, God? You gave me the worst possible star sign I can possible have! You know what else is annoying? I can't stand up for long amounts of time. Stairs are also difficult, but not impossible. I just need to rest when I get to the top or bottom of them.

Anyways... Support Group. There's a new kid there, sitting beside a boy named Dave Strider, who has this rare eye cancer called 'Intraoculat melanoma', and he wears these huge, dark shades to hide his one missing eye. Dave has blond hair that he slicked in a way he deems 'cool' (I wouldn't be too sure of that), and he wears a white shirt with red sleeves with a scratched disk or something on it. I've never really talked to him with words, but he usually sits beside me, and nudges me, or makes a movement that would signify 'rolling his eyes', if only anyone could see the one he still has. The boy sitting next to Dave is kind of cute, I guess, if you want one word for it. He has black hair that looks kind of messy, but is also tame. He wears these glasses that look a bit dorky, but he, like I said before, makes them look cute. He also has buck teeth. He wears a white T-shirt with a ghost from _Ghostbusters _or something. His eyes are ocean blue, and even seem to have the waves, and these amazing blue eyes are staring _right at me._

I'm about to call (more likely cuss) him out for staring, but my dad decides right then to start the thing. God, Dad... We all stand up, and recite the prayers. I notice the boy stumbling over his words, because he doesn't know them, and people laughing lightly. He laughs with them, because there is no hiding the fact that the idiot doesn't know what he's doing (what he's doing was being extremely cute). _Pull yourself together, Karkat! _my mind yells at me. _You haven't even talked to him! You don't even know his name! _And Dad finishes the prayer.

"Today," he continues, "we have someone new joining us. He's a survivor of osteosarcoma, and his name is John Egbert. John, would you care to share your story? Only if it's alright with you."

"It's fine with me," he says, with a bit of a grin. "I was diagnosed when I was ten, then I got an amputation in my mid-thy. And I'd like to say that I was strong, and laughing when I came out of surgery, but, honestly, I may as well have been dead. By the way people were reacting, just endless tears... And I found out that my twin sister Jane... Wasn't as lucky as me... I swear to God, though! The doctors flipped a coin over I guess I'm lucky that my younger siblings, Jade and Jake, are free of cancer." Dad nods.

"How are you feeling?" he asks.

"I'm feeling alright," he answers. "Maybe a little bit hot, but, that's probably just me, being my first time and all. And I'm only here for Dave."

"Thank you for being honest," the ex-priest thanks. "Dave, since he's here for you, why don't you go next?"

"Hey, my name is Dave Strider," he announces. "I have this rare eye cancer whose name I never bothered to remember, and it costed me an eye, and now it's costing me my other eye, too. Yeah, a quick surgery and I'll be blind. Great... I feel somewhat disappointed, but other than that, fine." He finishes with a dismissive tone. Oh, crap. My dad (and everyone else) can plainly see that I'm sitting next to Dave, and the only other person sitting next to Dave is John, and John already spoke.

"Kar-" he begins, but I cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah," I sigh, rolling my eyes. "I'm Karkat Vantas, I have pulmonary carcinoma, and I feel like fuck you."

"Karkat, we are in the literal heart of Jesus," my dad begins, and I clap both of my hands over my face. I knew that was going to happen, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it... And yet... Why?

"Dad, we're going to run out of time," I remind him, growling.

"Right, we'll continue this later," he states, and continues on through the next few people. I look over, and notice John staring at me, again. Not only does this make me feel incredibly self-conscious (not that I'd ever say _that _out loud), but it also angers me a little bit. So I stare back. Dave is the little judge of our staring contest.

John blinks, and I sit back in my seat with a smirk, as my dad rambles on about whatever he's saying. The only person who looks like they're paying attention is a girl with surprisingly long hair, deep blue eyes, and always wears a blue Ravenclaw hoodie from, what she always cares to remind us, Harry Potter. She had osteosarcoma, and since she's still alive today, I assume it healed. It makes sense that she pays attention, because my dad and brother are so much alike, and she's dating my brother. She's nice, I guess. We don't really talk much, because she's normally in my brother's room, doing whatever it is a nineteen-year-old and a seventeen-year-old do when they're alone. You're so very welcome for the pictures. But my brother is clearly very comfortable with her; he doesn't allow even the slightest touch, even by accident, but they hold hands. Speaking of her hands, she has one. She only has her left hand, because the cancer targeted her right. And she was legitimately depressed when she came here the first time, because she couldn't play the piano anymore. From there, Kankri became her right hand.

"Aradia," Dad calls, and a girl with shoulder-length (that's considered 'long' in the cancer community) hair stands up. She wears a black, yet elegant, T-shirt with the Aries symbol on it in rust red, and a grey, tattered skirt. I don't remember what she has. I don't think it's humanely possible to remember the cancer diagnoses of about twenty people. "Can you finish this session?" We all stand up, and all hold hands, because my dad insists. I'm holding hands with Dave and this kid named Sollux, who has leukemia. I remember his diagnosis because he's pretty much my best friend, other than this kid named Gamzee, but I haven't talked to him in forever. Half because I've been busy Having Cancer, and half because he has a boyfriend, named Tavros. Tavros actually sits across from me, and he rolls around in a wheelchair, because cancer took his legs away. But he's fine, otherwise.

"Of course, Signless," she answers sweetly. She's new, so she doesn't understand why everyone calls him the Signless, but the reason is because of both his sons having cancer, he never got the chance to learn sign language, either. A wave of pity suddenly washes over me as I wonder who in our family _has _learned sign language. Chances are that Kankri taught himself at one point, but I don't know for sure. Aradia begins the prayer she had to memorize in a week (it's a long prayer we all drone through), and after that, we all grab our things and head outside.

I can't help but notice there is romance everywhere. Kankri had been waiting for his girlfriend (I forgot to mention that her name is Aureli), who seems to teleport to his side as soon as she sees him. She gives him a small kiss on the forehead, and he blushes bright red, and starts a lecture, to which she rolls her eyes and smiles, as they walk towards her car. Against the church wall (in plain sight, I might add), Sollux and Aradia are making out, murmuring 'Always' between gasps. He begins to grope her boob, and that's when I look away, to see John Egbert standing next to me, gazing in the same direction I was.

"I wonder if she can still feel her boob," he says, grinning lightly, laughing at his own joke. I roll my eyes. "And what's with 'always'?"

"They'll 'always' love each other," I answer. "Their love is for 'always'. Yeah, right." I turn to look back at him, and he's staring at me again. "Why do you keep staring at me like that?"

He smiles, revealing all his teeth. "You're beautiful." There's a pause, as the words register in both our minds. It's easy for me to deny this; I'm practically a walking bobble-head, but with a little bit of a smaller head, or maybe just a bit of a bigger body. I'm also incredibly pale, as I'm half-albino. The only thing that doesn't put me in the category is my hair, which is black. It's messy, but also dead. "Okay, that's a bad word to describe a dude. But, seriously. I'm not a homosexual, but even I can tell that you're pretty cute." A blush rises to my face, and smile grows wider, and he ruffles my hair.

"C-Can you... not?" I stutter, looking away, fiddling with the rim of my sweater nervously.

"Sure," he answers. "All you had to do was ask." Another pause. "Do you like movies?"

"Movies?" I repeat, thinking about my favourites (my sisters tell me that they're girl movies, but they're not! Movies aren't gender-specific), in the romantic comedy genre.

"Yeah," he answers. "My little brother Jake has, like, all of them, and maybe you can come over to my house, and we can watch a few, or something. Or just one. Whatever."

"You could be a murderer," I tell him, an eyebrow raised. "You seek out kids like me, make them feel special, then bash their heads in with a hammer."

"I could be," he agrees. "But, what does it matter? You're dying, anyways."

"True..." I notice my dad walking out of the building, and him gesturing for me to go over to him. Oh, shit... I'd have to face his lecture of doom... Even if John is a murderer, that's better than listening to the males of my family's lectures. "I'M GOING HOME WITH JOHN!" I yell, turning to him, pushing him along in the opposite direction. "Where's your car?"

"It's the white one covered in stickers," he answers. "Just so you know, my dad's lingering in the car... He brought newspaper."

"Whatever..." I mutter, looking back at my dad, who I saw climb into our silver van.

We approach a car that's according to John's description, and he holds the door open for me, and I get into the backseat. He puts my oxygen machine next to me. He opens the door on the other side, and gets in there.

"Dad, this is my friend, Karkat Vantas," he introduces me. "Karkat Vantas, that's my dad." His dad is a pale, slender man with white-as-snow hair. He's an albino, like my brother (and my dad). His suit is also completely white, making his skin tone look lighter than it actually is. He puts down a newspaper, and turns to look at me.

"Nice to meet you, Karkat," his dad says, and reaches out a hand, which I take.

"Yeah," I agree. I don't know how to respond to comments like that...! Or greetings, or whatever. So, I force out, "You too."

It's a silent ride to John's house. His dad gives off such an official aura, I'm afraid to say anything. And so is John. And his dad is focused on driving. But, as it turns out, John's house is right down the street from mine; it's not even a far walk. Even I can probably make it. When we get there, we're immediately greeted by a smaller version of John with deep green eyes and tidier hair, and a female version of that John, with impossibly lighter green eyes. They look to be about ten. Too young to really know about homosexuality; to really know anything other than the classic guy-gets-girl ending.

"Jake, can we borrow one of your movies?" John asks. Jake's face lights up, and his eyes look as though someone had replaced the irises with little green lights. He looks me over.

"Romcoms!" he decides, and I look at him strangely. What the fuck is this kid going on about? "Am I right?"

"About what?" I ask, a bit tiredly. I never really have to deal with kids, and they're not really my thing, anyways.

"Your movie genre!" he answers. "The genre that can keep you silent until the ending credits roll! The genre you hate, but you love so much. Am I right?"

I blush lightly, and make a microscopic nod. The girl (I think her name is Jane or something) runs off to grab a movie. She comes back with the movie 'The Fault in Our Stars'. I realize that the situation I've fallen into is extremely similar to the one Hazel Grace's (yes, I've seen the movie). We both even have lung cancer. Whoa. Why am I only noticing this now?

"Thanks, Jade," the older brother thanks, hugging his sister lightly, before gesturing me towards the basement.


	3. Chapter 2: A Movie and Dinner

The basement has been converted into a bedroom. A pullout couch is decked in pillows and a blanket, in front of a modern-looking TV, with various gaming systems hooked up to it, as well as a Blu-ray player. Around the room, bookshelves are placed, half being filled with (mainly) sci-fi, fantasy, and romance books. I notice that the 'romance' books are the same kinds I like. A quarter of the shelves are filled with cooking trophies, addressed to a 'Jane Crocker-Egbert', and the books from there back to the stairs are all cookbooks (most published by Betty Crocker).

I sit down on the bed as soon as I get downstairs, not enough air getting into my lungs, as John sets up the movie. He grabs a remote and flings himself to the back of the bed, and laughs a bit when he hits his head on the back, and I sit back on it, relaxing slightly. He claps his hands and the lights turn off (I smirk a bit, in the dark), and he turns on the actual screen. The logo of the company shows, then halfway through an advertisement for who-knows-what. He skips to the menu, and plays the movie. To be honest, I haven't ever made it through without crying like a bitch, so this time, I can't cry, because there's someone watching with me.

* * *

Shit. Here I am, crying like a bitch. The ending credits are rolling, and John gets up wordlessly and ejects the movie, and puts it carefully back in its case, then sets it aside, and turns the TV off, and the lights back on. I can see a huge, childish grin on his face.

"That movie was great!" he exclaims, then pauses, noticing my tears. "Karkat, what's wrong? The movie's not _that _sad."

"You heartless bastard..." I mutter, wiping tears out of my eyes. "How was that _not _sad?!"

"I didn't say it wasn't sad, I just don't think it's worth the tears," he answers. I'm so tempted to take one of Jane's trophies and smash it over his head. "Besides, I saw it coming. Jake kind of spoiled the whole thing for me, y'know? He even told me that Hazel dies two years after the story ends, and then she's with Augustus, so, as far as I'm concerned, that's a happy ending." I almost start crying harder. Hazel dies, too?! What the hell?! "Do you need a hug?" I stick both of my fingers at him, and he laughs, and hugs me.

"Fuck you!" I yell.

"Jo~hn!" Jade runs down the stairs, and giggles a bit when she sees us. "Dad wants you to make dinner tonight." Said John opens his mouth to protest, but she cuts him off. "He says he doesn't care if you have a friend over. For all he cares, Karkat can help with dinner."

"Fine..." he sighs, and lets go of me. We walk upstairs, and he stars making a dough. "I'm making pasta dough, if you're wondering. Can you do me a favour and text Aureli and tell her to come home?"

"How the hell do you know Aureli?" I ask.

"She's our cousin," he answers, tossing me his phone. "It's unlocked."

I turn on the phone, and turn on pesterchum, and text Aureli:

- ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering binaryStars [BS] at 5:57 p.m. -

EB: HEY

EB: YOU HAVE TO COME HOME NOW

BS: What's up with you~?

BS: Someone a bit kranki~?

BS: Imeancranky

BS: Heh

EB: THIS IS KARKAT

BS: Oh~

BS: That explains a few things.

BS: Sure, KK.

BS: I'll be right over~

EB: DON'T CALL ME KK.

EB: ONLY SOLLUX HAS THE RIGHT TO CALL ME KK.

BS: Whatever...

BS: ...KK

EB: FUCK YOU.

BS: Sorry, I have one Vantas, and I'm not sure if I could handle another~

BS: I'm not sure you could even handle each other. :/

EB: FUCK YOU EVEN MORE.

BS: #Dude I'm kidding #Take a joke

EB: WHY TAG THINGS IN A TEXT CONVERSATION?

BS: #Why not

EB: IT'S ANNOYING.

BS: #How so #The hashtags didn't do shit to you

EB: #I'M LEAVING NOW

BS: #Bye, then.

- ectoBiologist ceased pestering binaryStars at 5:59 p.m. -

I turn off the phone again afterwards, and set it down on the counter screen-down.

"She's coming," I tell John.

"Alright," he nods. "Take a seat or something."

I sit, and just watch him make the dough, and then pass it through a pasta shaper hanging on the marble counter. I hear Jake and Jade laughing from the room to the left, and some voices on the TV, and assume they're watching a comedy. The sun is just setting, and it reflects through the window, and catches in John's brown hair, and reflects off his glasses, giving the illusion of him glowing. I quickly shift my eyes away, and I see John's dad in the doorway, watching us. Not in a hostile way, though I don't notice at first. About ten minutes later, Aureli walks through the door, and is tackled immediately tackled by Jade, and the two fall to the ground. The two laugh, Aureli starting. She stands up again, and walks into the kitchen.

"Hey, John," she greets, and he jumps, much to our amusement. I let out a snicker. "Alright, I'll get the Alfredo sauce started, k?"

"K," he answers.

"Karkat, you can mix the pasta into the sauce, if you want," John offers, and I stand up, and walk to him.

* * *

"You can just kind of flip it around," John tells me, when the pasta is finished, and he put the pasta in the sauce. He flips it up, and basically shakes the pot. "Here. I'm going to go make Jake and Jade set up the table. Be right back, and try not to get the pasta on the ground." He winks as I leave, and I blush lightly. Fuck him, and fuck his stupid wink. I shake the pot, but the pasta isn't turning. The above mentioned twins run past me, and get some cutlery, and run to set it out. I half wish I could run like that, without passing out. John comes back, and I shake the pot again. He laughs a bit. "Karkat, like this." He takes my hands, and makes more circular motions as he shakes the pot. I'm a blushing mess, however, and I'm pretty sure he feels the heat radiating off my face. _Just take normal breaths, Karkat. Normal breaths. _He lets go, and I keep shaking the pot. "Karkat, you have a little something on your face." He laughs a little bit.

"Yeah?" I ask, focusing on the pasta. "What?"

"It's called 'blush'," he answers, poking my face.

"Fuck you!" I call. "Fuck you, John Egbert!"

"Ha, you'd like that!" he calls back, absconding to the dining room.

"Well, that ascended quickly," Aureli remarks from behind me, and I jump slightly. "Here. You go sit down with your gay- I mean, guy friend."

"Not a homosexual!" John calls from the other room.

"Over my dead body!" she calls back, laughing. "Anyways. I'll take that, and you can go sit down, and I'll put this into a big bowl." I hand the pot to her, and go to sit next to John, but he's not sitting at the table.

Their dining table is coated by a deep blue table cloth, and it looks nice. John is sitting at the piano behind the table, against the far wall, and he plays. Holy shit, he's actually good. I sit down in a seat facing him, and just listen. Aureli soundlessly puts the bowl of pasta down on the table, and goes back to the kitchen, and gets a plate of garlic bread I didn't know was made, and various vegetables. She stands there, relishing in the music, for maybe a second, before yelling,

"FOOD!"

John stops playing abruptly, and glares at her, to which she laughs. Jake and Jade come running (they went back to their show after setting the table, I guess), and their dad makes his way over to the table slower, and sits down. The Crocker-Egberts take their food, and I look at them in confusion.

"Your dad's a priest, right, Karkat?" their father asks, and I nod. "Well, in your family, you probably say grace, but here, we don't generally do that. In fact, only one of us here is even religious. And she doesn't say grace, anyways."

"Only at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and stuff like that, though," Aureli corrects. "But, yeah, take your food."

"Alright..." I take a share of pasta, and a piece of garlic bread. They all talk happily over dinner, which takes me by surprise; no one talks at our dinner table, unless my dad is chewing me out for something, or if it's Kankri finished and he just talks.

"You alright, Karkat?" John asks.

"This is just a bit unnatural for me," I admit. "My dad is so strict with everything. We don't usually talk at dinner, or not say grace... Not complaining. Just realizing how much I've been missing."

"Yeah, your family's dinners suck," Aureli states. "When I go for dinner, it's downright _awkward. _Especially since you can't leave the dinner table until everyone else is done, so here I am, practically choking on my food so that I don't hold anyone up."

"The problems with life," I sigh, then she laughs. I pull off a smile.

"Good God!" she gasps, and I look around in worry. "He smiled! Karkat Vantas smiled! We have witnesses! Jake, Jade, did or did he not, smile just now?"

"Why is this such a big deal?" I mutter, poking at my food.

"I've never seen you smile before," she tells me. "You know how I practically live at your house, and I've never seen you smile."

"You practically live in my brother's room," I point out. "What can you even _do _in there that takes up the hours you spend together?"

"Left 4 Dead, GTA 5, COD, Portal, sometimes, if I'm lucky." It takes me a minute to figure out she's listing off video games. "Yeah. Kankri's got 'em all, games and systems, and is basically a walking game guide. He's subscribed to every major gaming company, and gets the newest games before they're even officially released."

"More like a talking game guide," Jake calls, to the rest of the table's amusement. "Really! All he does is talk and talk and talk!"

"Anyways, what do you do at your place?" John asks.

"Nothing interesting," I answer. "I try to program computers, then get yelled at by my friend for not doing it right."

"Ha!" he laughs. "Story of my life! I am no good with computers."

* * *

John slings his arm around me on the living room couch. We had settled down to watch a movie. It was another romcom, but this one had Nic Cage in it. John apparently loves Nic Cage. Or, at least, he did, until tonight.

"All these lines are just so cheesy..." he mutters, and I pat his head.

"Surprised you didn't notice earlier," I tell him. He rolls his eyes.

"Not helping," he shoots.

"Be quiet!" Jake hisses. I found out pretty quick that he loves movies, and seems to be as big a movie fan as Aureli makes out my brother- shit, makes my brother out to be with video games. Which I seriously doubt.

"Do you need someone to drive you home?" John asks.

"Yeah, probably," I answer. "I'd need to go over a week's worth of planning if I wanted to stay the night, or face a ten-hour long lecture, at best, if I stayed without consent."

"We should probably go now, then," he says, and I nod.

"Wow, you really want to escape the cliché lines of Nic Cage, don't you?" I tease, and he rolls his eyes again, but says nothing.

We climb into his car, and drive the two seconds it takes to drive from his place to mine. He walks me to the door, and I open it, and see the Disciple (well, my mom, anyways), walking through the hall the front door opens to.

"Karkat, who's your furrend?" she asks, making the strange cat puns the girls of my family make. It's really fucking weird.

"My name is John Egbert," he greets. "We met earlier today at the Support Group."

"It's nice to meet you, John," she says, then walks to the base of the stairs, closer to the door. "Nepeta! Karkat brought a friend home!"

"No need to alert the whole house, mom," I mutter, as I see my younger sister peek her head from the top of the stairs. She runs down them, and looks at John, then at me.

"Mom, I ship it," she says, then gets more excited. "I ship it! I'm telling Meulin!"

"Alright, well there appears to be a need to alert your whole house," John laughs. He kisses my cheek, and my face explodes in red, and my sister and mother squeal. I glare at them.

* * *

That night, I lay in my bed, and stare up at the ceiling. There are two things on my mind: Kankri the Gamer, and John's kiss.

There was no way Kankri could ever be a gamer. No way in hell. But... It explains a lot. A lot. Like how he can stand to spend so long in there alone. He says he writes in his journal, but even he has to run out of things to write about, right?

And the kiss. Was it platonic? But he'd said earlier that he wasn't a homosexual! But Aureli's remark... Was that just her being her, or her being honest? Okay, well, she's a brutally honest person, and has probably never told a lie in her life. But the kiss...

I rub my cheek. Fuck, I need sleep.


	4. Chapter 3: Surviving School

I wake up the next morning and groan. I'm awakened by my alarm clock. Why? Because, for the first time ever, I'm going to high school. I wasn't able to before, because of my unstable condition, but this year is different. I'm starting at the local catholic one, which is right beside the church. Fucking catholic families... Anyways, I drag myself out of bed, and put my canulla in after getting dressed. I walk to the kitchen where my brother is just finishing his pancakes. I take my own, and eat slowly, still confused about John... My dad's already gone, probably to the Support Group for those who don't have school, so my mom is home. I think that now would be a good time as any to ask my brother about the games; we're the only two in the room.

"Hey, I heard that you're... a gamer," I state. It's not a question. He takes his last bite of food.

"Who told you this?" he asks. Demands, more like.

"Your girlfriend," I shoot, after finishing half a pancake, and putting the leftovers in the garbage. "Last night when I went over to John's house. It actually surprised me less than it should have."

"Well, then," he sighs. "Yes, it's true, I'm what others might call a 'gamer'. In fact, Nepeta even knew... Don't ask. She just walked in without knocking... How triggering of her..."

"Yeah, yeah, don't lecture me about Nepeta," I rush, putting my shoes on.

"Karkat, we don't have to leave for about another ten minutes," Meulin tells me, seeing me getting my shoes on. "I heard your friend kissed you last night!" Her voice got really loud there... She's deaf, so she can't hear herself. I feel heat rise to my face, and I look away. "Ha ha! He did! Yay! Are you two a couple now? Nepeta's got you two on her shipping wall! Can you introduce me to John? Please?!"

"Shut up!" I yell, getting more embarrassed by the second. "What do you think dad'll think if he finds out? Last I checked, this family is extremely religious! Homosexuality is out of the question!"

"It wouldn't be something you could help, Karkitty," Nepeta says, materializing next to me. "Besides, mom would be okay with it! She wouldn't let dad kick you out!"

"Stop triggering Karkat about the kiss he shared with another person, that just so happened to be of the male species!" Kankri snaps. "Why does it matter to you? In fact, from what I saw... Hold on, let me explain: I was going to get myself a drink when I saw your new friend kiss you on the cheek. From what I saw, it wasn't platonic in any way. I'm not sure John really knows how to behave around other male friends; I've seen him in the cafeteria. He doesn't have many friends, though he seems to be quite the 'nice guy'. Furthermore, I apologize if I've triggered anyone with my previous statement. I should have tagged my triggers beforehand, but it must have slipped my mind, due to the fact that it was relevant to the topic at hand, and due to the fact that you two are making a big deal out of nothing. Please, accept my apology." He continues rambling, when all of a sudden, the doorbell rings. He calmly gets up, and answers it. I look out from the kitchen to see Aureli and John standing in the doorway. John waves at me, grinning a little bit. Kankri looks behind him, and sees me, and I have no choice but to approach them.

"Hello again, Karkat," Aureli greets. "Do you come here often?"

"No, I just live here," I answer sarcastically. "Why are you here?"

"I've been walking John, Kankri, and Meulin to school every day since we started high school," she answers, smiling. "I heard that you're coming today, too."

"Yeah," I answer.

"Grade nine or grade ten?" John asks. "I'm grade ten."

"Grade ten," I answer. "My dad made me take all academic."

"Ha, me too," he laughs. "It's not that hard, though, to be honest."

Kankri excuses himself to go and get Meulin, and so I step outside and he closes the door. John, Aureli and I chat casually, about whatever, and I can't help but notice Aureli's coulourful vocabulary. As if my brother would ever let _that _pass. Video games? Right. Swearing? Not on my life. He comes out a few minutes later with our deaf sister, and we walk to school.

* * *

By the time we get there, I'm out of breath, and I need to sit down on the big stairs leading up to the school.

"Are you alright?" John asks, concern lining his face.

"I'm fine," I breathe. "Walking just fucking sucks..."

"You guys go on, I'll stay with Karkat," he tells his cousin and by brother. "If we need you, we'll call you." Aureli nods, and takes Kankri along.

"Come on, I didn't do my homework last night, I need help," she says, smiling back at us.

John sits down next to me, and just waits for me to catch my breath, and when I do, we enter the hellhole known as high school. I walk into the principal's office to get my timetable, and it turns out that all classes but one are spent with him. My homeroom is Geography, while his is English.

As it turns out, Gamzee and Tavros are both in my homeroom. And, they were supposed to be working on a country, like, a made-up one, with a history and stuff, but they didn't do that, either. Gamzee said that he and 'TaVbRo' get together at least once a week, but it's definitely not to do work. My teacher is a middle-aged man with big, dark-rimmed glasses. Today he wears a black and brown plaid shirt and brown pants. He's very strict, and no one but Gamzee is dumb enough to counter him. He puts me with the two idiots mentioned above, and now they both expect me to do all the work. I'm so glad when the bell rings, because I seriously can't stand Gamzee's constant flirting, and then Tav's blushing, but we all know he's not actually embarrassed.

The next class I have is math. Math before lunch does NOT work for me, thanks very much. I have math with Sollux, Dave, and, of course, John. I sit between John and Sollux, who are at the front. Apparently, you're allowed to sit wherever you want, so I sit right between the only two people I actually know.

"Nithe to thee you thowed up," Sollux lisps.

"Because I asked for cancer," I shoot, and he smirks. It's become a habit of his to annoy the shit out of me, but honestly, his teasing is the only teasing I find tolerable. Maybe because I'm not the only person he teases, and maybe because he knows full well that I can come back with my own remarks. "Because you asked for it, too."

Sollux has blond hair, and one red and one blue eye. His red eye is actually brown, but it's on a redscale. However, when he's out in public, he wears red and blue glasses. And they're clinical glasses, too. He wears a black T-shirt that has "don't que2tiion my dii2abiiliity. or my moraliity" written on it in yellow. The second he found out he's Gemini, he's been obsessed with the whole duality theme, and that kind of scares me. But whatever. He found out when he was, like, five, so he's lived with a duality theme practically his entire life. I've also heard he has bi-polar disorder, but I don't know for sure.

"Too true," he answers, as I sit down. "Anywayth, thinthe we're about halfway through the year, you have a lot of catching up to do, KK."

"No shit," I tell him, rolling my eyes, and they just so happen to focus on John.

"Hi, Karkat!" he greets with a grin. "I didn't even see you! Spacing out. Nice to see you! How was homeroom?"

"It sucked," I answer. "I'm with Tavros and Gamzee, one of them being my best friend Before Cancer, and the other one being his boyfriend, and they haven't done _anything. _So here I am, stuck with the work that has to be completed in three days."

"What do you have to do?" he continues, the grin still there.

"I have to, oh, you know, design a country, put it somewhere, make a national anthem," I answer. "The whole thing with a country. Three days. A history, and everything."

"Huh, well that sucks," he states. "Did they have any ideas?"

"They knew that the country would be on the Earth," I offer, and he laughs a bit.

"No thit, really?" Sollux asks sarcastically. He'd apparently listened in on the conversation. "I thought the country wath going to be on the planet Alternia!"

"That's not a thing," John says. However, I laugh a bit.

Sollux and I had first met in the fifth grade, and the teacher told us to create a planet. Sollux, me, a blind girl named Terezi Pyrope, and the bully Equius Zahhak had been put together in a group. Equius didn't really do anything, other than create blood schemes of the people, claiming that he'd be a 'blue-blood', because his popularity was the highest in our group, but not in our class. Terezi wanted to be a fuchsia-blood, considering that she came up with a lot of everything, but Equius told her that the highest blood rank she could have was teal. That was her blood colour. Sollux was, is, and will always be the biggest nerd you can ever come across. He knows literally all of the codes, and back then he was used for his intelligence. Not to mention the bullying, which is basically what drove him and me together. Equius originally appointed him a rust blood, the lowest blood, but between him, Terezi and I, he was a yellow blood. I told them that I didn't want my blood to be any different from what it is now, so they just appointed me a mutant blood, which wasn't even on the hemospectrum (what we called the whole blood thing). We actually painted ourselves grey and made ourselves horns. It was Terezi's idea, and I'm pretty sure we got extra points for it.

"I can't believe you remember that," I say, and he smirks.

"Of courthe I do," he informs me. "It'th hard to forget the exthtreme irritathion I felt while Equiuth told uth what to do. It wathn't until after the prethentathion did I know that Equiuth ripped off hith brother'th idea. Mituna told me, before the acthident happened."

"Your brother got in an accident?" John asked, concern lining his face. "He seems fine to me."

"Yeah, he did," Sollux says, leaning back in his chair like it's no big deal. "He and Latula were driving along the road, and then thith drunk driver crathed into them. The other car'th driver wath killed on impact, and Latula and the driver'th thithter, Rothe, ethcaped with minor injuries, and my brother thurvived. But he got brain damage. Rothe wath diagnothed with canther while the wath at the hothpital, I heard. The only thing I wonder ith, why doeth everyone I meet turn out to have canther? I mean, even before you were diagnothed, KK, your thtar thign."

"Yeah, you met yourself and now look," I joke, knowing that he won't take it to heart.

"Exthactly," he grins, as the math teacher walks into class.

He has a light sandy hair colour, and bright blue eyes. He's wearing a white T-shirt and faded blue jeans, and I can already tell he's a really happy guy. He's just all smiley, and it really pisses me off.

"Alright, today we have a new student in class," he says, in a friendly tone. "His name is Karkat, and I'm pretty sure you can tell which one is him. And you guys are lucky; because of him, you'll have no homework tonight, and we'll go light tomorrow." The class cheered, and the kid behind me pats me on the back, and I cough a bit. "Let's try not to get all touchy-feely with Karkat. I heard he likes his personal space, and on top of that, he has a semi-rare lung condition known as 'cancer'. Anyone ever heard of it? If you don't, look it up tonight. Anyways, today we'll be dividing fractions, since you all seem to be having trouble with that."

After math, John, Sollux and I head to the cafeteria. I didn't bring any money, and I know that Sollux won't be willing to share any of his boxed lunch. What a nerd, boxed lunch when you can get hot food not too far away.

Sollux and I sit near the back of the cafeteria, and John joins us with his meal. It's just a chicken burger with a side of salad, but he also has a very big cookie right on his tray. I can't help but stare at the cookie, my mouth watering, and Sollux is the first to notice.

"KK, that'th adorable," he begins, smirking. "Who wantth the cookie?"

"I want the fucking cookie," I shoot. "That cookie looks amazing."

"Here, you can have it," John tells me, giving it to me. It's bigger than my hand, and it's covered in chocolate, and was already chocolate chip to begin with. It's still slightly warm, and the icing looks slightly melted, and I take a bite out of it... It's delicious. I have this bad habit of purring when something pleases me, and that cookie fucking pleases me. "Karkat, you're purring! That's so cute!" He pats my head, and I do nothing to stop him, because he's the one that gave me the thing.

"Hello, motherfuckers," my best-fucking-friend greets, walking beside his crippled boyfriend. "Wow, are we like the cool kids or something?"

"Far from it," Sollux answers, as Gamzee sits down. Gamzee is an impressively tall drug addict with messy hair, and shockingly blue eyes, that appear to be indigo in the right light. He always wears this one shirt that's too big for him, so one of the sleeves slides over his shoulders, and has the Capricorn sign in indigo on it. Not to mention he always wears pajama pants, and those are black with gray spots on them. Tavros is from Spain originally, but his family moved here because of the better hospital care. His hair is styled as a mohawk, and he has bronze eyes. He's wearing a black T-shirt with the Taurus sign in bronze, and some grey jeans. "We're more like the thothial rejectth that like pretending they're cool."

"There's a word for that," I inform him, and he looks at me. "The word is 'nerd'."

"You cockthucker," he accuses.

"Says the one who can't even say it right," I shoot.

"You win this time, KK," he tells me.

"Guys, if you want, you can come sit with us," a voice offers, causing us all to jump. We turn and see none other than John's cousin. "I mean, if you want to. A lot of the grade twelves have siblings your age. You should get used to them, and maybe you can befriend the others. I mean, Gamzee's brother Kurloz is there, Tav's brother Rufoh is there, Tuna's there, too. If that tempts you any. Just know that you're welcome."

"Thanks!" John says, grinning, as she leaves. "She's fun."

"And hot," Sollux adds, and everyone laughs. Even me a bit.

"She's taken," John tells him, after calming down.

"A person can be hot and taken," he informs us. "Let me quote every girl on tumblr ever, 'All the good guys are either taken or gay'."

"I'm offended!" John exclaims. "I'm neither taken nor gay!"

"I'm gay," Gamzee offers, with a smile. "But I don't see why it all up and matters... Shouldn't people be free to like what they like?"

"'_What _they like'?" I quote. "You said 'what', not 'who'."

"Oh," he says, thinking about something. I doubt it's the topic at hand. "I suppose I motherfuckin' did. Sorry Tavbro." The look on Tavros's face is completely priceless.

"Gamzee!" he whines, making us all laugh harder, and he smiles, too. After we calm down, there's a few moments of silence before Sollux speaks.

"John, your cousin's hot."

The bell rings after that point, and I walk with John and Tavros to our next class.

Our next class is music. Is this seriously what my dad signed me up for? Why? The only instruments I see available for playing are wind instruments, which I can't play due to cancer.

"Hello, everybody," the music teacher greets. "Today we have Karkat Vantas with us. So, grab your instruments, everyone!" I really like how she jumped from the topic of me to the reason she gets money. No, that's a sincere comment. I do _not _like being the center of attention. "Alright Karkat, can you play any music?"

"I know a bit of guitar," I mutter. "And I can play violin."

"Do you have your own?" she asks, and I nod. "Good! Bring them tomorrow! Go sit next to John on the piano." I sit next to him on the tiny piano bench provided.

"Oh, hi, Karkat!" he greets. "Come to play piano with me?"

"I don't know why I'm here," I tell him. "I mean, at the piano. My dad signed me up for this class. I don't know why I'm sitting next to you on the piano."

"Alright, John! Start us off!" she calls, and he does so.

John is really fucking good at piano. No. Wait. He's not good. He's amazing, and everyone can see it. The brass instruments start up, and then the clarinets and the one flute player. A low sound appears, too, and I realize that the girl sitting next to the flute player has this thing that looks like a saxophone and a clarinet had a love child, and it grew up to be bigger than the sax. The music goes on for a bit longer than it should have, but I'm not complaining. This class has talent. I notice that Tavros is on saxophone.

"Good job, everyone!" the teacher tells us. "Alright. Let's do another song."

* * *

The bell rings just after Tav is finished putting everything away. John and I get up, and we walk to our final class; French.

The teacher is a tall, slender lady with straw hair, and dark glasses. She's wearing a colourful shirt, and light blue jeans.

"_Bonjour, tout le monde," _she greets. "That's 'Hello, everyone'. If you didn't know that. Now, today..."

French is an hour of my life I will never get back.

After school, Aureli, Meulin, Kankri, John and I meet up, and walk back home.

"School fucking sucks..." I complain.

"Karkat, watch your language!" my brother begins, and I sigh, and just keep walking, tuning him out.


	5. Chapter 4:

_**Chapter 4: Homework, Dinner, and Also John Stays Over**_

John is allowed to stay over at our house, because of my extremely persuasive mother. Meulin and Nepeta didn't bother us; they were more focused on the 'canon' ship. Nepeta was actually in Kankri's room, which was the attic. You can easily pull the stairs down, and my dad prefers to leave them down when it was just the two alone together. Uh, Kankri and Aureli, I mean. We head to my room, which is the first room on the right, in our hall connected to the kitchen. It's a mess; clothes are everywhere. My dad says that if I can't get my room clean by Sunday, I don't get my candy. Candy is fucking delicious, don't judge me. But I have a secret stash underneath one of the loose floorboards.

"So, Karkat!" John begins. "Wanna work on our homework together? I mean, only one of our classes is different."

"Whatever," I answer, taking out my stuff. "So... I need to create a country..."

"Shouldn't Gamzee and Tavros be helping you with that?" he asked.

"No," I respond. "They didn't help me with anything else before, why would they help now?"

"Because you have three days left to do it," John answers. "Do you have any ideas?"

"No. I suck at coming up with anything."

"Well, think of yourself as a leader of this country. What would you name it?"

"Why the fuck would I want to lead a country?"

"I dunno. Pretend you do! What do you want to call it?"

"I dunno. Magic-y Magic-y Bullshit Island."

"Karkat, be serious!" he says, laughing.

"I don't know. Let's call it Snow Island and put it beneath the equator."

"Why?"

"Because the sand would be white like snow, and the dipshits that discovered it were too mentally challenged to realize it was sand."

"Well, that's good! I guess, I mean, I wasn't in the past, so I don't know what they'd think. Probably that. Any people on the island beforehand?"

"Uh, no. Well, like, maybe one, because... the rest of his people died out."

"Why'd they die out?"

"I don't know! They just didn't survive! This is a fictional country and this stuff happened in the past whether it's real or not!"

"Aw, Karkat! You're doing good! Really good! Why'd they die out?"

"They all got cancer, or something..."

"All but one?"

"Yeah. Their people is naturally cancerous, but he was the most recent generation and it had built up a natural resistance to cancer."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well that's cool."

"John. I feel like a small child. You keep asking me 'Oh what's this' and 'Oh what's that'."

"Karkat, I've only asked you what the people are like and what you want to name the country."

"Whatever. You could help a bit."

"Aren't I helping?"

"No. Not at all."

"Yeah I am! I'm helping you unlock the power of your imagination!" He grins, and I punch him in the arm. "Ow!"

"You asked for it."

"No I didn't."

"In what way didn't you ask for me to punch you in the arm?"

"I didn't say, 'Hey Karkat! Can you punch me in the arm?'"

"Okay." I hit him again.

"You dick!" He laughs. "Let's just move on... Write what we discussed-"

"There was absolutely no cussing in the previous conversation."

"Whatever! Just write shit down, and then get your French out."

"We don't have homework for French."

"Oh yeah! Well, we don't have any for math either, and you said that you can play guitar and violin! Let's hear!"

"Fine."

I go into my closet, and pull out two cases. My guitar case is obviously bigger than my violin case, and my violin case has a bright red 'TW' on it. The story behind this, is that when I was seven, and learning to play violin for the first time, I was really bad. Really, really bad. My brother, at age ten, heard me practicing, and did everything he could to stop me. But then my dad came and shooed him out of my room, and I kept practicing. In the middle of the night, or maybe later that night while I was watching TV and he wasn't, he snuck into my room and stuck taped down the strings, and spray painted 'TW' on my case. I was able to get the tape off the strings, but not the trigger warning off my case. I take out my guitar, and tune it. I don't have a guitar pic, but my palms have always been insanely dry. They don't crack in the winter or anything. They're just pretty insensitive. Due to this, I could always just play the guitar without much pain.

"What do you want me to play?" I ask. "I can play a shit ton of stuff."

"'_Bittersweet' _by Panic! At the Disco?" he requests.

I begin playing the acoustic version of that song, and he's smiling like a small child, and murmurs the lyrics as I play.

"I'm just setting,

I'm just setting a trap,

And I'm not pulling, no,

I'm not pulling for you,

You're just pulling at me.

I'm not a betting man,

But this is a sure thing.

I've been to Tokyo

And to South Africa.

So many places,

That you may say I've seen them all!

But my favourite place

Is the warm embrace

Of holding your hair back in a bathroom stall!"

I join in at the chorus, because fuck it, I can sing if I want. Also if I'm playing a song, I can't not sing it.

"Everything I do is bittersweet

You could tell me secrets that I'll probably repeat.

I'm not trying to hurt you;

I just love to speak.

It feels like we're pulling teeth,

So bittersweet.

I guess that's how it's gotta be,

I guess that's how it's gotta be.

All that hate is

Gonna burn you up.

It keeps me warm at night,

Warmer than anyone!  
I think how many drinks I've had,

No more in either hand,

I'm slurrin' on purpose.

And it's certainly worth it!

Everything I do is bittersweet..."

"Karkat you're really good at this!" John cheers, after we're finished the song. "What can you play on the violin?"

"It's a work in progress, but I can play a song I'm writing," I mutter. "It's called 'Crustacean'."

"Cool!" he grins. "Let's hear it."

I begin playing the song, and John listens attentively. I finish what I've got thus far, and he smiles widely.

"Wow, you wrote this?!" he gasps, his eyes brightening with his face.

"Yeah," I answer. "Having cancer gives you the chance to do a lot of stuff."

"Not for me," John informs me, still smiling. "Cancer was really painful. Like, I'm not even talking about when I got my leg hacked off. I'm talking about learning to walk again. That was really painful. It really didn't help that Jade and Jake were around while I practiced. I mean, it makes sense. Their older sister just died; I was the only one left. Ha, but let's not talk about painful cancer experiences! Dude, what else can you play?"

"I can play a shit ton of stuff," I respond. "Just request, and there's an amazing chance I know it. Request the fuck away."

* * *

I had played until John couldn't take it anymore. Now we're playing video games. We're playing the Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, and I called being player one, so he's player two. Red Link. John, of course, remarks on how 'cute' it is that I have old gaming systems like the GameCube. At some point, maybe halfway through the game, I pause it, and go to the loose floorboard at the end of my bed. I pry it up, and take a handful of the candy. Like I said, I stash candy. Basically, I buy big boxes of candy, and put them there. The strange thing is, is that there's a small hole there, like as though the house was built to hide something there. After deplacing the floorboard, there's a little golden lock. The first time I opened that lock, I had to pick it. The key was in the concrete box. It's silver, and looks too big for the lock, but it fits. It has a cancer sign on the end, in bright red. I basically lock my candy in a well-hidden, well-protected vault. I throw a pack of peanut M&Ms at John, then grab one for myself, lock up the vault, then sit down beside him again.

"All you need is a passcode lock and a fingerprint," John remarks with a grin.

"Shut the fuck up," I mutter, picking up my controller. "It's the only hidden place in my room."

"Ha, it's okay," the blue-eyed boy laughs. "It's cool that you have a hidden cubby like that in the first place."

"GUYSIT'STIMEFORDINNER!" Nepeta yells, bursting into the room. She looked a little disappointed, but was still smiling.

"What the fuck, Nepeta?!" I exclaim. "How many times have I told you to fucking knock before you enter my fucking room?!"

"Pretty much every day of my life!" she smiles happily, and stands taller, as though she's proud of annoying the shit out of me. "But it's time for dinner!"

"I heard you," I state, getting up.

"Karkat..." John groans. "Can you help me up?"

"No fucking way," I tell him. "You sat down, you can get back up."

"But, Karkat, my leg...!" he continues

"Fuck you, and fuck your leg," I mutter, as I help him up.

"Thank you," he grins.

"Whatever!" I exclaim.

We head downstairs, and... my dad made turkey. He only makes turkey on special occasions. And, y'know, when someone brings a new friend home. Kankri is sitting at the table, and, as usual for when she comes over to our house, Aureli is helping our dad. Meulin and our mom are also already at the table, and Nepeta sits with them. I sit down a seat away from my brother, and John sits between him and me.

"Hey, Kankri," John greets.

"Hello, John," he says in reply. "How are you?"

"I'm pretty good, you?" he continues.

"Quite fine," my brother responds. I can't help but notice that he's completely out of it. He's staring at the spot in front of him, and is fiddling nervously with his fingers. Or possibly excitedly. I'm not entirely sure; his face is so devoid of expression it's hard to tell, and he doesn't seem unhappy.

"Alright, please stand so we may say 'grace'," my father orders. We all do as he says, and as we open our mouths to recite the typical dinner prayer, John quickly shouts:

"GRACE!"

Nepeta bursts out laughing, but Meulin begins the prayer, regardless (once again, she's deaf; she has her eyes closed, so she can't read John's lips), and my mom is trying extremely hard not to smile. Kankri just has this shocked look on his face, but whether it's because of the statement or because he was snapped so abruptly out of his thoughts is unknown to me, and Aureli is chuckling to herself.

"Perfect," she laughs. "John, that was _perfect._"

My dad looks like he's about to scream at us. But, as a 'composed gentleman', he's taken a mental vow to not do that. I'm also laughing, and as soon as our laughter dies out, the room is in complete silence, other than Meulin finishing her prayer.

"...Amen." She opens her eyes, and sees everyone smiling. "What happened without me? You guys...!" Nepeta began giggling again. "What's funny?"

"Nothing..." dad mutters, sitting down. He stabs the two-pronged fork into the turkey a bit angrily, and serves everyone a piece.

"Thank you," everyone mutters when they receive their piece of food. My dad serves everyone everything. It's how he is with guests; he never makes extra, but wants to make sure there's enough for everyone.

"So, guys, guess what's happening in roughly two weeks?" Aureli asks excitedly.

"Winter vacation?" Nepeta guesses.

"Nope!" the guest denies, still excited. Kankri and John look at her curiously. "Yeah, I know I didn't tell you. I wanted to tell everyone at once, because then I can answer your questions." They nod. "Okay, so, my sisters are coming!" John drops his cutlery.

"Like, all the way from England?!" he gasps excitedly.

"Yeah, pretty much," she grins.

"Oh, will the twins be coming?" Kankri asks politely.

"Eden will, I know that for sure," the girl affirms. "She might even stole away and stay here until my other sisters notice she's gone! As for Eren, I'm not even sure if they'll let him on the plane, let alone willing to come."

"Wait, England?" I ask. "I didn't know you were English." I go to take a drink of water.

"Oh, you didn't, Karkat?" she responds, in her fucking English accent. That is no fake accent, either. There's just something a real accent has a fake one doesn't. And she continues, in her accent, "John also has a bit of an accent. It's in our family. I rarely ever use it, anyways. I mean, teenaged girls aren't the only people affected by accents." She's almost looking directly at my brother. I don't think I've ever seen him legitimately uncomfortable before. I mean, when he's even slightly uncomfortable, he starts spouting things about triggers and shit, but he's quiet, and kind of looking away. He might actually be lost in his thoughts again, which is weird, because he's never like that. The fuck is wrong with him? "Kanny, you're spacing out." She pokes him, and he jumps a little bit. Meulin jumps afterwards. I'm assuming that she wasn't paying attention, either, and saw the sudden movement.

"So, where do you plan to go with your siblings, Aureli?" Mom continues.

"I dunno," she responds. "There's this con around the time they'll be coming up... Maybe I'll go to that with them?"

"Wait a sec," John stops her. "All your sisters? Even Caleta?"

"Wait, what's wrong with Caleta?" Nepeta asks. I'd actually completely forgotten about her; she'd been unnaturally quiet.

"It's..." Aureli frowns, trying to think of the right words. "It's kind of like autism... But not quite. She'll practically be autistic, because she's slowly losing control over everything, but... she can still think. It's hard to explain. You have to either be in her mind or be her caretaker, Aquini, to understand."

"Will her caretaker be coming?" I ask.

"Probably," she responds. "Okay, I'm going to eat, now."

The rest of dinner is silent, and very awkward. Kankri finishes first, then Nepeta, Meulin, my dad, my mom, me, John, then Aureli last. We all get up and put our dishes on the counter.

"So, John!" Nepeta begins after everyone but me, him and her have left the room, "do you want to stay over tonight?"

"What the fuck Nepeta?" I demand. "You can't just-"

"I'm _asking _John a question!" she protests.

"Why the emphasis on 'asking'?" I wonder.

"So, John, what do you think?" my sister continues.

"If it's alright with your parents," he responds, with the same grin he always has.

"MOM!" she yells.

"YEAH, NEP?"

"CAN JOHN STAY OVER?"

"SURE!"

"You can stay!" she cheers.

"No shit, really?" I mutter.

"I'm just going to text my dad and tell him I'm staying the night," he says, pulling out his phone and doing so. "Alright!"

"So, John, I'm assuming you're sleeping in Karkat's room?" my mom randomly appeared in the kitchen. "I know what your relationship is like around each other."

"It's nothing like that!" John protests. "My friend Dave told me that Karkat likes affection. So when we met at the Support Group, I thought he looked a bit lonely and sad and stuff, so... You know. I thought I'd give it a shot."

"Right," she agrees sarcastically. "That's something I believe. But, anyways! I just thought I'd let you know that we don't get sleepovers often. Actually, my husband's against it entirely. But, you know, it's a part of growing up or something. But my point is, is that we don't have any spare mattresses."

"Thanks mom," I mutter.

"I'll get Aureli to bring a clean change of clothes when she comes to walk us all to school tomorrow," John decides.

My mom leaves, and John and I go to my room. John's really, really excited.

"This is my first sleepover!" he exclaims. "So cancer kind of ruined all my friendships in elementary school, except for, you know, Dave, and I didn't really bother in high school because, well, Dave."

"Yeah, me too," I agree. "Like, not the whole story. Just that this is the first time I've had someone over."

"Well, that's cool," he says.

I go over to my laptop and turn it on. I'm just going to check pesterchum before I go to sleep. I like going to sleep early, because I prefer getting up early, not staying up late.

- caligulasAquarium [CA] began pestering carcinoGenecist [CG] at 7:54 -

CG: WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU AND HOW DID YOU GET MY NAME?

CA: relax kar

CA: wwait you are kar right

CG: IF BY 'KAR' YOU MEAN 'KARKAT' THEN YEAH, THAT'S ME.

CG: BUT HOW IN THE NAME OF MY HOLY EX-PREACHER'S FATHER'S ASSHOLE DID YOU GET MY NAME?

CG: MY REAL NAME AND MY PESTERCHUM NAME.

CA: im another kid wwho goes to your school

CA: names eridan

CA: i think wwere in french together or somethin

CG: ANSWER MY DAMN QUESTIONS BEFORE I BLOCK YOU.

CA: alright calm dowwn

CA: remember a wwhile ago in the fifth grade

CA: i wwas that transfer student that went to your school for maybe twwo wweeks

CG: SHIT, THAT'S YOU?

CG: DIDN'T YOU IMMEDIATELY TRY TO 'GET POPULAR' BY BEING FRIENDS WITH WHAT'S HER NAME...

CG: PEIXES?

CA: fef and i are great friends noww ill havve you knoww

CA: but yes that wwas me

CA: and it wworked by the wway

CA: i wwas awwarded second highest position on the hemospectrum

CG: YEAH, BECAUSE FEFERI BRIBED EVERYONE. I DIDN'T CARE.

CA: oh

CA: thats a little bit disappointin

CG: YEAH, I'D IMAGINE SO.

CG: WHY DID YOU CONTACT ME?

CA: i just wwanted to say hi

CA: and i alse wwanted to invvite you to sit at our table tomorroww

CA: evveryone else wwill be doin it

CG: WHY WOULD I CARE WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING?

CA: wwell your friends are goin

CA: gam wwas really fuckin easy to get he just goes with wwhatevver

CA: tavv wwasnt much harder

CA: i got sol too

CG: I DON'T EVEN WANT TO KNOW HOW YOU GOT SOLLUX TO GO ALONG WITH THIS.

CG: BUT WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?

CA: why does evveryone ask that

CA: nothin

CA: i promise

CA: ivve been wwantin to get evveryone together again for a wwhile noww

CA: and since youre able to come to school again i though noww wwould be the perfect opportunity

CG: I'LL CONSIDER IT.

CG: BYE.

- carcinoGenecist ceased being pestered by caligulasAquarium at 8:00 -

"Oh my God, Eridan's such a prick," John sighs. "But what the fuck's a hemospectrum?"

"A long story," I respond. "A long story I'd rather not get into. But, I'm tired. I'll explain it in the morning."

"Okay, night!" John says, as we climb into bed, and I shut off the lights.


End file.
